The Eternal Night of Night Eternal
by Nabihci
Summary: Night Eternal lives in a family of Nightmare Moon worshippers. She has been blissfully ignorant of the horrors surrounding her life, until now. Whatever is the matter with poor Dark Moon? OC
1. Chapter 1

The characters in this work are my own, but the concept of My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.

About five years before the beginning of Friendship is Magic:

"Hey, Dark Moon?"

"Yes, Night?"

"Why aren't we allowed outside?"  
The two pegasus sisters were sitting together on Dark Moon's bed in their shared bedroom. It was the middle of the night, and from their vantage point, located right next to the window, they watched the night sky together. The moon's glow bathed them in a silvery light.

The young filly Night Eternal blinked up at her older sister expectantly, eagerly awaiting a reply. She lay partially hidden in a patch of shadow, created by a section of their blackout curtains that hadn't been completely pushed aside. She blended jaggedly into the darkness, her dark blue coat and gray-blue mane giving her a minimal amount of camouflage.

Dark Moon was situated right in the middle of the silvery beam that the moon cast through their window. The light coated her near-black mane and gray coat in an ethereal glow. She stared up at the moon in a trance-like state, sorrow visible in her eyes. Just when Night began to think that she should repeat her question, her sister spoke.

"We need to stay inside because mother says so," Dark Moon said, her tone hollow.

"But…_why_?" Night whined.

"Apparently, 'in order to show the great princess Nightmare Moon the proper respect, we must stay inside with blackout curtains covering the windows, so that we shall be pure, as the wicked light shall not have touched us'," Moon quoted.

"Oh, oh!" Night jumped up, "You forgot that the bad ponies outside the house don't believe in Nightmare Moon, and anyway, they'll try to corrupt her image with evil lies!"

Dark Moon looked at her skeptically, a half-smile evident on her face.

"You already knew the answer?"

"Of course! Mother's always drilling us to make sure we know the rules!" Night grinned proudly.

"Then why bother asking me?" Moon questioned.

"Well," Night looked down at her hooves, "I've just never heard it from you before."

Soft hoofsteps alerted them to the approach of their mother, Crescent Glow. The older mare appeared from the shadows like a ghost, a coat and mane of silver-gray completing the image.

"The sun's going to rise soon, fillies," Crescent said softly, "You know what that means."

"Bedtime?" Night frowned.

"That's right. Don't forget to say your prayers to the great princess of the night!" she smiled, trotting down the hall to her own bedroom.

Night sighed, and left to get ready, as well as to complete her nightly duty of making sure all the blackout curtains were properly closed and secured. Once finished, she returned to Dark Moon's bed, which, with its position next to the window, was better suited for sending prayers to the moon. Her sister had also left to get ready, but had not yet returned. Night stood on the bed and gazed up at the moon, bowing quickly in respect.

"Great princess Nightmare Moon, may you hear the worship in my voice and listen to my words, and in return I wish you a safe and swift return to your rightful position as grand ruler of Equestria and, my namesake, eternal night," the filly recited.

She looked behind her to make sure that nopony was around. Sure enough, she found herself alone, and grinned.

"Okay," she said to the moon, placing her front hoofs on the windowsill, "now that the boring stuff's over, let's talk for real! I don't mean to sound rude, but…I mean, you can't have all that much to do trapped on the moon, right? So I was just wondering…"

She glanced down nervously.

"I was wondering if you could do anything to help my sister. Her name's Dark Moon and she prays with me every night, so I'm sure you know her. She's a really nice pony, but right now she's really sad. Could you possibly find a way to make her happier, even if it's just a little bit? I want to see her smile again."

Night thought for a moment.

"Or, if you can't do that…or…just don't want to…could you please at least let me find out what's making her so sad. Then maybe I could do something for her."

The noise of approaching hoofsteps silenced Night, and she quickly dashed over to her own bed and dived underneath the covers, feigning sleep. The young filly listened as Dark Moon said her own memorized passage of respect, but, unlike Night, she did not speak further. Silence descended upon the room once Dark Moon finished her prayers, and crept under the covers of her bed.

Night lay awake for a while longer, facing the wall beside her bed. She eventually fell asleep, convinced that her sister had done the same a long time earlier, completely unaware that the older mare was still lying soundlessly, staring blankly up at the ceiling.


	2. Chapter 2

Night awoke several hours later to the soft creaking of her bedroom door. Blinking her dreams away, she glanced sleepily around the room to determine the source of the noise that had awoken her.

"Dark Moon? Hello? What's going on?" she called quietly into the dim light.

According to the clock on the wall, it was still day; barely past noon. The clock's face had no numbers, and its single hand had only two choices to point to: noon and midnight. Time was irrelevant to one trapped on the moon, as it was to the ponies that worshipped her. This sole timekeeping instrument was to keep the two sisters from rising before the night truly began, without the need to peek behind the blackout curtain. This and the absence of lights and electricity in the house meant that the only light the girls had been exposed to was that provided by the moon.

The covers on Dark Moon's bed had been pushed aside by a careful hoof, and there was no sign of the older filly herself. Squinting into the gloom, Night was able to confirm that the door had been left slightly ajar. The young filly feared how their mother would react if she found Dark out of bed.

Quietly, so as not to wake the mare sleeping in the room across the hallway, Night slid out of bed. Her small frame allowed her to slip through the gap in the door with ease, her flanks barely touching the sides. She treaded carefully down the hall, her hooves making soft noises against the carpeted floor.

She gazed at the lower floor upon successfully reaching the top of the stairs. Her sister stood by the sole window of their living room, reaching tentatively towards the curtain.

"Dark Moon!" Night whispered, rushing down the stairs to her, as carefully as she could so as not to awaken their mother, "What are you doing? You'll get in trouble!"

"I know," Dark replied softly, "but…it's not fair."

"What's not fair? What are you talking about?" Night asked quizzically.

"Outside," Dark gestured to the still-covered window, "they get to spend every day in the sun, in the light. _Real light_, not the soft, barely-there moon's light. The sun is theirs every day. I wish, if it were possible, for _us_ to have the sun. Just _once_! One day in the warmth; that's all I'd ask for. Surely that would be fair."

Night looked at her sister in horror.

"No, Dark Moon, no! Never, never, never tell that to Mother, ever!" Night shook her head in child-like distress, crying in a hushed whisper, "Mother would be so mad! She says that the sun's evil."

Dark Moon did not spare her even a glance; she stared at the blackout curtains as solemnly as before.

"I don't care," Dark replied at last.

"Yes, you do! You…you have to! Do you want to be a traitor to Nightmare Moon? Do you?" The young filly screamed.

Dark Moon whipped around and stared at her in horror. Night, realizing her mistake, glanced fearfully at her sister.

"I'm sorry, Dark, I didn't mean to-"

The charcoal filly shushed her, and glanced at the stairs, her ears poised to detect the slightest sound.

"Go. Hide." Dark commanded.

"But-"

"Hide!" She whispered through gritted teeth.

Night took two steps back slowly, before darting into the nearby closet. She left the door open a crack, just enough to see through. Dark stood in silhouette by the window, the darkness obscuring her features well, but not well enough. It was pointless to hide; she knew that well enough.

Night could hear them too, now. Soft, even-paced footsteps walked across the carpeted hallway upstairs. They were barely audible, but to her they echoed with a deafening sound. She cowered in the shadows of the closet as they grew louder and closer.

Dark stood her ground as they approached.

Hallway.

Landing.

Stairs.

Living Room.

Night couldn't see her, but there was no doubt in her mind that the silver-coated mare was standing near the bottom of the stairs, just outside her field of vision. Night's blood ran cold.

"Well," their mother's voice was now a battleground, her usual calm front struggling with the noticeable rage quivering in her throat, "what exactly do you think you're doing?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Well? What do you think you're doing, Dark Moon?" Crescent Glow growled.

"You know well enough." Dark responded calmly.

"Step away from the curtains. _Now,_" Crescent said, her voice resonating through the tense atmosphere of the room.

Night watched in horror from the closet as Dark Moon slowly took a step towards the window. Even in the darkness of their home, Night saw Dark smile. It was a challenge. Their mother let out a cry of rage, and reared up. Night squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to witness the ensuing chaos. Still, the sounds of thundering hooves and the crashing of furniture found their way to her. Sight was unnecessary for the image that formed in Night's mind.

And yet, the outcome remained a mystery. The fighting had clearly ceased. Perhaps this was a good sign. Night was unsure whether or not to take it as such.

"Night, dear," her mother said softly.

Night cautiously opened her eyes, and peered through the slats in the closet door. The living room chairs had been knocked over, and there was a strange, strong smell in the air, but she couldn't see Dark Moon or her mother.

"Everything's alright now. You can come out."

Night's hopes soared. It was over. Her mother and sister had stopped fighting, and everything was going to be back to normal. She leapt from the closet.

"Mother, I-"

Her mouth gaped open and her face froze in a look of pure horror. She fell to the floor mid-jump and frantically backed away, bumping into the now closed closet door.

"What's the matter, Night? You should be thrilled."

The walls and floor were splattered with blood. Crescent Glow stood in the shadows in the one spot in the room that, from Night's previous vantage point, was hidden. Her muzzle was flecked with crimson streaks, and at her feet laid the desiccated corpse of her eldest daughter. The head had been mutilated beyond recognition, and the body was ripped open; ribs with flesh hanging from them in ribbons were exposed to the air. Seeming not to have noticed Night's expression, Crescent leaned down and tore a chunk of meat from the corpse's flank and swallowed without chewing, streams of blood still dripping from her tainted maw.

"The traitor has been dealt with. The sanctity of our home has been preserved. Come here."

The last thing Night wanted at that moment was to approach her mother. However, fearing the consequences of disobeying, she obliged, and tentatively walked towards her.

"Are you not happy that the traitor is dead?" Crescent threatened, her eyes shining menacingly.

"I-I'm, um, very h-happy, Mother," Night choked on the words.

"You don't sound very sincere." Her eyes narrowed.

"I-I am…"

"Prove it." Crescent said sharply, "Eat the flesh of the traitor."

"What?"

A solid hoof forced her face into the rotting meat.

"**Eat the flesh of the traitor**." Crescent repeated forcefully.

Against her will, the bloody, raw meat was shoved down her throat. Night's senses were drowned in a tide of blood and fear. She grew numb, unwilling to acknowledge the sensation of her sister's blood dripping from her fur, drenching her mouth and sliding down her esophagus. She barely heard as her mother proclaimed her a "good filly" and a "proper foal of the moon". Sensation returned to her only as her mother's bedroom door creaked shut, leaving her alone.

Once she had regained full possession of her mental faculties, she stood, paralyzed with shock and fear, for an instant, but no longer. Gripped by terror and tainted by blood, she thundered up the stairs, running as if possessed by some unseen force. Sliding into the bathroom, her composure and inner strength gave out and she collapsed, the rejected remains of Dark Moon spilling out onto the tiles in a bloody pool. Night lay on the white tiles dyed and warmed by recent kill, yet frozen to her in the wake of this fresh destruction, and wept, her body shaking from the impact of the living nightmare she found herself in.


End file.
